


I'm Davenport!

by Catmod



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Character Study, Light Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-30
Updated: 2017-09-30
Packaged: 2019-01-07 02:16:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,331
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12223698
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Catmod/pseuds/Catmod
Summary: They say the reason Davenport was reduced to only remembering his name is because his life was the mission. But how does such a thing happen? Even though Taako couldn't remember Lup, he could still remember his childhood. So what makes Davenport so different?





	I'm Davenport!

“Wait... wait...”

All his life he’s looked at the stars and seen an endless world of possibilities. His parents were part of an elite research team. They had found this thing called they called the Light of Creation and they told him in a few more years they may be able to achieve inter planar travel through the stars with it. He didn’t really understand how a light could be able to help them travel through space but it sounded cool.

And if a little light could do so much, then maybe one day he could too. That ship is going to need a crew after all. And he was going to be the one to lead them.

“Where am I?”

The kids at school didn’t seem as partial to his ideas of space flights and missions to other planes of existence. He dodged another rock aimed at his head as the kid chased him around the play yard. To “knock he his head out of the clouds” they said. He turned the corner and ducked behind a bush as he cast an illusion of himself still running to keep the bullies off his tail. He held his breath as the kids fell for it and kept chasing it. 

Good. That illusion should hold up another 10 minutes. Plenty of time to mislead them just deep enough into the woods that they wouldn’t get lost, but definitely far enough in that they’d be late to class even if they ran the entire way. If the teachers wouldn’t do anything about the bullies then he would. “Too much of a runt to lead a team” indeed.

“You’re... You’re Merle... Right?”

Was it a little young and reckless to be getting behind the wheel of his parents wagon without a drivers license? Probably. But really the keys were right there and they were out of milk. After being up for 32 hours straight his parents weren’t anywhere in the state to be driving. So a quick trip to the market and back. He could manage that.

And behind the wheel of that wagon was an indescribable feeling. He had never felt so free before. Like every time those bullies jeered and threw rocks, every time a teacher that looked at him like he was some kind of halfwit when he said his dream career was to be a pilot, they were all proven wrong. At least until that stray dog decided to cross in front of the wagon. He really needed to learn to stop day dreaming.

“I know you...”

His parents sent him to a fantasy military school. To “curve his wild tendencies” they said. He hated it at first. Sure he crashed his parents’ wagon. And he got into more than one fight at school. Okay a lot of fights at school. It’s not like started them. Most of them. But boot camp? That’s a little extreme in his book. The sergeants and drill captains were even bigger hard asses than his old teachers. But he in between those moments of hating this school, he was learning a lot about survival training and how to work in a group alongside his normal lessons. And they were actually teaching him how to properly drive a motor vehicle and that was even better since they never thought to ridicule him for his size as an excuse to not let him behind the wheel.

After a year they were talking about promoting him from private. They were putting him in charge of a small group during their training exorcises to see how he can handle being in a leadership position. And he’s excited to try it out. He can feel there’s a change in how he handles himself. He’s no longer that scared little kid that no one believed in. People actually trust his decisions. It’s a nice feeling.

“What’s going on?”

It’s been years since he’s graduated fantasy military school. Now he can finally dedicate himself to what he’s always dreamed of. The IPRE has been making headway on its construction of a ship that could run purely on the bonds people share with on another. Its in its final stages of construction and they’re hoping to have it make its maiden voyage in the next two years. And now they’re looking for a crew to man it. Davenport is a natural pick for captain. He agrees all too eagerly on the condition that he gets to pick his own crew. He knows better than anyone that you can’t just shove a group of people together 

The interview process makes him want to tear his mustache out. Not for lack of qualified applicants. There were plenty of those. But for how many that, beyond their qualifications, they were downright insufferable. Half of them acted as if he had no idea about how magic worked and the other half acted as if they were the ones leading this mission. He called the next candidate on his check list as only to raise an eyebrow as two identical elves stood up. “I’m sorry these are individual interiews. Which one of you is Taako... Taaco?” 

“Oh don’t worry about that, my dude. We’re about to save you a whole bunch of time by killing two birds with one stone. Cause you see we, my sis Lup and I, are a package deal that will absolutely blow these other chumps out of the water.” The twin on the left said with a confident smirk. Davenport didn’t know if it was the exhaustion talking or the curiosity of what they thought could offer, but he decided one less interview he had to do the better. 

“I’m Davenport.”

A lot of people questioned his reasoning on how a ragtag group like theirs could work together so well. And honestly, he didn’t know himself what compelled him to choose the people he did. They weren’t exactly the most qualified people, with the exception of maybe Lucretia. But what they lacked in formal training, they made up for in sheer force of will. Even when they were still in training, they have a way of solving the puzzles and goals that were set out for them in ways he and the other test proctors could never had imagined. Incompetently competent is the way one of the proctors put it and he couldn’t think of a better way to put it. Despite them only knowing each other a short time, they just had a way of picking up the others slack at just the right moment, in just the right way, to turn the tides in their favor. It was pretty outstanding actually. 

And now they’re standing on the bridge of the Starblaster about to blast off into the unknown. He looks back from the control at the people he’s about to spend the next 2 months with. Magnus is grinning despite, more like because, of his black eye he’d gotten in the night before. Lup and Taako are standing towards the back, they keep glancing at the countdown clock in obvious excitement before looking away in feign disinterest in attempt to look aloof. Barry and Lucretia don’t even bother to try and hide their apprehension as they never take their eyes away from the ticking clock. Merle is the only one that seems completely unaffected, looking more like he was waiting for the bus to come than like he was seconds away from blasting off into space. 

He turns back to the controls and grins as the bond engine revs to life. He had made it. They may not be the most professional looking team out there. But despite what anyone else thought, despite all the people that wanted to see him crushed back into the dirt, they had made it to where they were today. He had made it. And he honestly couldn’t think of a better group of people he’d rather be with to share this with. 

“I’m Davenport!”

**Author's Note:**

> I just couldn't get this fic out of my head until I wrote it. I may write more for the other crew members if this one goes over well. I haven't quite decided yet. Anyway I hope you enjoyed this fic because it was so much fun to write. As a great man once said: "It's not perfect, but it's the best I could do."


End file.
